Being surprised after watching video of yourself

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I remember how the last time I had to make a video of myself I was shocked at what I saw, with my speech, my mannerisms, my facial expressions, etc. I had no idea I came across this way to other people. It was a rare insight into the way other people perceive me and it's only decreased my already low confidence in approaching other people. If I did this on a more regular basis, though, maybe it would cease to be so surprising.

Has anyone else here had a similar experience?

Totally! I look at myself and think: Do I really sound like that? Because I don't sound that way to myself. It's really weird.

I have had the same experience. Ugh, I hate the difference between how my voice really sounds and how I think it sounds. And whenever I see myself in a video, I realize I move my face differently from other people, and that my expressions are either too extreme or super muted. Then I become obsessed with trying to look 'normal', and when that doesn't work, I become horribly frustrated.

Ya I don't like appearing in my videos either, I am too self conscious, and my uper lip curls, so it looks like I am snarling, I might try acting in front of a camera to see if I can change my mannerisms.

Yea. I remember watching an old home movie and I was in it, and I thought I had the acting skills of a rock! I sound so completely different then I think I do. I used to record myself for hours so I knew what I sounded like, it helped a little bit. Mum thought I'd lost it though, just me and the tape deck... talking...

I have always been self-consciuous about the way I sound when I talk, and until very recently I would not have my voice recorded at all because I felt that if I ever heard that recording played back it would just be too traumatic for me to bear. This came up recently in sessions with my psychologist, and she persuaded me to try doing what I thought I would never ever do - try recording my voice; at first in the privacy of my bedroom at home. I too found that I sound very different to how I think I sound. I don't like the way I sound, but hearing it played back, although not pleasant, isn't so awful that I can't survive the experience either. I had no idea how slowly I talk. I don't think I am talking really slowly until I play it back. I thought I sounded like a little girl, but I don't. If anything my voice sounds rather gruff and unfeminine and I don't like that at all. A lot of the time my voice does sound really flat and expressionless when played back, although I don't think I am talking like that at the time.
Over the last couple of sessions with my psychologist, we have used a video camera to record bits of the sessions. I don't think I look that bad, but haven't really watched myself much. At the moment I am more focused on listening to how I sound on the tape and I find that it is just too much for me to look and listen at the same time, so I tend not to look at the screen as I listen.

I looked odd in some of the videos. The way I sat and the facial expressions so yeah. But my voice always sounded weird.

I appear better to myself than how I feel that I present (the inner-difficulty I have doesn't show as much to my eyes).

The other side of the coin, I guess.

Same here, except I never had a problem with my voice. Its amazing how the image from a video camera is so revealing, whereas a mirror just doesn't seem to catch it. I think that maybe with a mirror, we are used to looking at ourselves at a certain angle. As far as my voice, for whatever reason, other people find it sexy when they can't see me. Then when I meet them in person, they get this "Oh, Sh!t" look on their faces.

The only surprise I've ever gotten watching myself on video was seeing how competent I look when I'm concentrating on doing something instead of thinking about how I look. I think I got over the "omg is that me?" reaction from photos when I was a kid. My parents took lots of photos, and we went through the photo albums on a regular basis, so I desensitized. And again, I look better when I'm focussed on doing something rather than interacting with the photographer. I don't think I've ever seen myself talking with others, though.

I do still weird out over my voice on tape, though, since I sound so much like my mother and sisters, and not like how I hear myself. I think everyone does that, though.

I identify a lot with this-- I really dislike seeing myself on video. I remember that once I had to deliver a speech to my class, and I put a lot of work into preparing it, down to how I wanted to emphasize specific parts. When I saw the video, I was shocked because it seemed like I gave the entire speech in monotone. Somehow, I think I am speaking with emotion, but it just doesn't come out that way.